Israel's former army chief of staff accepted the job of defense minister Saturday evening. Shaul Mofaz's appointment by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is

Former Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on Sunday he would accept Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's offer to be his foreign minister only on condition Sharon agreed to hold an early general election.

Sources close to Netanyahu said Sharon had yet to reply to Netanyahu's condition that Israel hold new elections. "Benjamin Netanyahu agrees to serve as foreign minister in a government that will head to early elections," the statement said after Netanyahu met Sharon at the prime minister's Jerusalem residence.

Earlier, Israel's former army chief of staff accepted the job of defense minister Saturday evening. Shaul Mofaz's appointment by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is to be put before Israel's parliament for confirmation on Monday, Sharon's office said in a statement.

A senior official in Sharon's office, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that despite the cabinet shake-up, the government's policies would remain unchanged, and Israel would honor all its pledges to the United States.

On the ground, Israeli soldiers stopped two Palestinians in a car at a checkpoint in the West Bank Saturday and found an explosive belt inside, the Israeli army said.

The men were stopped south of Nablus and later taken in for questioning. The belt was detonated, an army spokesman said. And in Jenin area, Israeli forces destroyed two homes of Palestinian activists who carried out last year attacks on Israeli targets. (Albawaba.com)